


home is wherever i'm with you

by ReginaCordium



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cassandra sort of gives Vex the shovel talk, F/M, Perc'ahlia Festival of Happiness, because I can't write any other way, dialogue-heavy, except nicer and more emotional, vaguely canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:19:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8158684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReginaCordium/pseuds/ReginaCordium
Summary: “So,” Cassandra says idly, not looking up from her sketch of the room, “you and Percival, then?”Vex suddenly feels like she owes her brother an apology.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rannadylin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rannadylin/gifts).



> My half of our fic exchange for the Perc'ahlia Festival of Happiness! :D Took a lil longer than I expected, but I kinda mushed together two of the prompts (Rebuilding Vex's house in Whitestone & Cass making Vex promise not to break Percy's heart). Hope you like it!!
> 
> Title from Home by Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeros

“The townsfolk have cleaned it up, but I’m afraid it’s still rather…” Percy trails off, trying to find the right words.

“Toasty?” Scanlan offers with a shit-eating grin.

“Shabby,” Percy insists, rolling his eyes. “But I figure we can at least use some of this down time to start fixing up the inside and decorating it to your tastes.”

Vex surveys the manor – _her_ manor, her very own – with an eye that’s less critical than usual. While it still bears signs of Scanlan’s fire and general destruction, Vex can’t help but see it as how it _could_ be: whitestone polished to a shine, dark wooden door, perhaps a garden…

“It’s perfect,” she insists, smiling up at Percy. He turns his head quickly, but Vex swears she sees his cheeks turn pink. She grins to herself and starts to walk towards her house – _hers_ , she thinks again giddily.

Vex takes a calming breath before turning back to her friends. “So is it safe to walk inside?”

“Of course. They made sure it was structurally sound, reinforced the weak places they could find. There may still be downed beams or rubble in some of the upper rooms, but it’s mostly clean.”

“Is there a budget I should be adhering to?”

“Somehow I feel you want me to say yes just so you have an excuse to frighten the shopkeepers.”

“So how soon I can start my renovations?” she asks, smiling like a child during Winter’s Crest.

Vax groans and starts walking away. “I am not sitting through more of your interior decorating. The Keep was bad enough.”

“I agree,” Scanlan adds, because of course he does. He already has a mansion that creates whatever he wants, the bastard. “We just finished killing the fucking Chroma Conclave. I refuse to be anything less than shitfaced for the next week.”

Grog cheers loudly as Keyleth excitedly gasps, “Day drinking!”

Pike rolls her eyes good-naturedly at their antics. “Well, I suppose someone should make sure they don’t kill themselves.”

Vex and Percy watch their friends leave with varying levels of amusement.

“Just us, then?” Vex says, shooting Percy one of her “is she flirting or just being nice” smiles that always seem to pull the best reactions out of him.

And continue to do so, as his face definitely burns pink.

“Well, ah, Cassandra is coming as well,” he answers, pulling off his glasses to clean the lenses on his jacket. “She offered to write down what you want, and sketch if necessary.”

“How kind of her,” Vex says, vaguely surprised. She likes Percy’s sister well enough, thinks her kind and strong, but hasn't spent much more than a few moments in her presence, and they all seemed to be in times of distress.

“Trust me, she's not being kind,” Percy snorts. Vex recognizes the tone as one Vax uses often; the “I love my sister but she's annoying as hell” one. “She wants to wheedle you for embarrassing stories about me, I’m sure of it.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to share all the juiciest stories then,” Vex muses, twisting out of the way as Percy tries to shove her shoulder. “Such as that time you flirted with grass! I’m sure your sister would love to hear it.”

“Hear what?”

The pair looks up from their rough-housing to see an amused Cassandra, ledgers tucked under one arm.

“Nothing,” Percy says quickly, which causes his sister to raise an eyebrow.

As much as Vex would _love_ to embarrass her friend, she’s rather more excited to set up her house.

The foyer is just as shabby as Percy had predicted, but Vex has always had an eye for potential. Some drapes, a big mirror, maybe some plants, and it would be homey and bright. They carry on for some time, stopping in every room to survey the remaining damage. It’s slow-going, but Vex is enjoying spending time with the de Rolo siblings. There’s gentle teasing, just like with the rest of her little found family, intermixed with only slightly embellished stories of Vox Machina’s exploits.

(Vex doesn’t tell about Percy’s flirtations with grass. She figures it’ll make for good ammunition at a later date.)

They pick up rubble as they go, stacking it in the kitchen. Vex is already imagining the meals she’s going to have with the rest of her family, which now definitely includes young Cassandra.

The library is empty save for a single bookcase that brushes the ceiling. Vex can picture the room full of similar shelves, crammed full of books on adventure and intrigue and magic, and maybe a few about science. There’s plenty of room for a big desk, and two chairs could comfortably fit before the fireplace…

“We should look at the bedrooms,” Cassandra suggests, giving Vex and her brother a small but sunny smile. “You should call your dibs now before the rest of your friends come tearing in.”

“Are there enough rooms for everybody?” Vex wonders as they start to trail slowly back to the foyer and up one side of the spiraling staircases. “Scanlan didn’t really give any information about this place other than ‘I set it on fire.’”

Percy and Cassandra both laugh at that, Cassandra’s just a little louder and brighter than her brother’s, but both shockingly similar. Vex wonders, had things been different, if Percy’s laugh would be more like that.

“There are four or five, I believe, though if we’re in Whitestone I will already have a place to stay.”

Vex bites her tongue to keep from making a comment about how she wouldn’t mind sharing.

They push into one of the smaller rooms, Cassandra rattling off measurements and ideas just as quickly as Percy can rattle off information and plans. Being quicker than everyone seems to be a family trait. How endearing.

They save the master bedroom for last on Vex’s insistence - she needs a little time to prepare herself, to think about what she wants and how she can make it feel truly like a home.

Vex opens the door and walks in first, and she feels a little breathless at the idea of all this room to herself. What could she possibly do with it all?

(She carefully doesn’t think about how it could comfortably fit two people, especially one known to leave papers and inkwells in their wake.)

The only problem is the hole in the ceiling, revealing a gray but cloudless sky.

“Oh dear,” Percy says, coming to stand next to Vex. “That definitely needs to be taken care of.”

“Well, it offers excellent ventilation,” Cassandra offers, with the same dry humor her brother has.

Percy snorts as he turns to leave. “I’ll go see if I can find one of the workers nearby. Be back in a moment.”

Less than five minutes after Percy leaves the room, Cassandra speaks up.

“So,” she says idly, not looking up from her sketch of the room, “you and Percival, then?”

Vex suddenly feels like she owes her brother an apology.

“What about us?” she asks instead, aiming for casual. Judging by Cassandra’s unimpressed look, she thinks she likely missed.

“You can’t lie to me, Vex’ahlia,” Cassandra tells her, not unkindly. “I see how you look at him when his back is turned.” After a brief pause, she grins a little and adds, “And vice versa.”

Vex’s brain grinds to a sudden halt. “Vice versa?”

Cassandra’s smile grows, and Vex is struck by the reminder that she’s Percy’s _younger_ sister, and as a younger sister herself she knows how much the younger woman is enjoying this.

“Whenever he walks into a room, he looks for you first. When you walk in, he looks up. He spends much of his time making exciting new arrows for you. He offered you a barony to help you stand up to your father.” Cassandra’s look turns pointed. “He _loves you_ , silly.”

“Love is a very strong word, darling,” Vex stammers, trying to figure out how she lost control of this conversation.

“Have you two talked about it?”

“We haven’t exactly had any free time,” Vex reminds her. “We seem to go from one crisis to another.” Though she and Percy _have_ been flirting more and more lately, smiles turning a little too real in the moment, hands lingering a little too long…

Gods, she’s really head-over-heels, isn’t she?

“Though we, ah, we should do that,” she admits. “Talk, I mean. About...us.”

Cassandra’s smile suddenly falls into the serious frown Vex has gotten used to.

“You know I like you as a person, right?” she asks. Vex blinks at the non sequitur.

“Well, I certainly appreciate hearing it, darling. Where are you going with this?”

“I don’t care if you and Percy get together, or if you stay just friends. However…” Cassandra trails off, biting her lip. Vex had never seen Cassandra look so unsure; she didn’t even know de Rolos could look anything less than cool and confident. “Be kind to him, please?”

Of all the things Cassandra could have said, Vex certainly wasn’t expecting that.

“I would never purposefully do something to harm your brother,” Vex swears. “We like to tease each other, but it’s all in good fun.”

After a moment of consideration, Cassandra starts slowly, “He puts on a mask of cool indifference, but things affect him more than he lets on. His heart is deeply guarded; the fact he’s let you in is no small matter. I like you, Vex’ahlia, I really do. But I worry about what could happen to my brother if you shatter his heart.”

“I - I care for him deeply, Cassandra. More than...well, more than I expected, or truly intended. He is kinder than he believes, and I wish to help him see that as well.”

“He has lost so much,” Cassandra continues softly. “I don’t think he could survive losing you as well.”

Vex, for once at a loss of words, gathers Cassandra into a hug.

“He will never lose me,” Vex promises. “Not even if he wants to.”

Cassandra’s still laughing when Percy returns.

“Did I miss something?” he asks, brow furrowing in concern.

“Nothing at all, brother dear,” Cassandra assures him, patting his shoulder as she breezes by. “Just telling Vex’ahlia that she’s welcome to stay at the castle for however long the renovations take.”

Percy looks over at Vex and offers one of his rare, _real_ smiles.

“I’m sure we can find the room somewhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yell about these two with me on tumblr @ regina-cordium! (it won't let me link for some reason :x)


End file.
